ASEAN offers help to ‘Ondoy’ victims

Association of Southeast Asian Nations Deputy Secretary General Sayakane Sisouvong on Saturday met with Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Alberto Romulo to offer ASEAN’s assistance to the victims of Tropical Storm “Ondoy.”

The ASEAN deputy secretary general arrived yesterday and met with Romulo at the Manila Polo Club yesterday afternoon. He will also meet Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and Social Welfare and Development Secretary Esperanza Cabral to discuss how the ASEAN can be of further help to the affected areas. There is also a plan to visit an evacuation center.

The DFA said Sisouvong informed Romulo that the ASEAN has set up an emergency relief fund called “ASEAN Cooperation Fund for Emergency Relief” to assist the victims of Ondoy (international name: Ketsana), which has battered other ASEAN countries – Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao PDR.

The said emergency relief fund will also be used to help the victims of the Indonesia quake earlier this week.

Sisouvong was dispatched to the Philippines by ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan to assess the extent of the damages caused by the storm.

The DFA said ASEAN’s initial fund for emergency relief will be taken from the ASEAN Development Fund, and will be used to purchase relief items based on the needs of the affected populations.

The Philippines is one of the 10 member countries of the ASEAN.

Earlier, ASEAN Secretary General Dr. Surin Pitsuwan appealed to the ASEAN Foreign Ministers to make contribution to the emergency relief fund.